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14 May 2024Migrants and Refugees The number of people living in internal displacement soared to a record 75.9 million last year, a new UN-backed report said on Tuesday. The year also saw nearly 47 million new internal displacements, highlighting the urgent need for protection and prevention efforts, according to the UN International Organization for Migration (IOM), which supplied data for the report. “As the planet grapples with conflicts and disasters, the staggering numbers of 47...

13 May 2024Migrants and Refugees A new report jointly issued by the UN refugee agency (UNHCR) and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) reveals a significant increase in the issuance of study, work, family reunification and sponsorship permits to refugees by OECD countries and Brazil. According to the report, Safe Pathways for Refugees – released on Monday – nearly 215,000 permits were granted to individuals displaced by conflict and crises by 37 OECD...

UNHCR has renewed its call for a coordinated continental approach to the issue, as underscored during the ministerial meeting on the Los Angeles Declaration on Migration and Protection, held in Guatemala on Tuesday. New approach The landmark declaration aims to transform how the region manages migration and is based on the principles of solidarity, responsibility-sharing, international cooperation, and respect for human rights.  It was launched at the Summit of the Americas in Los...

Global perspective Human stories The Houses of Parliament in London, United Kingdom. 22 April 2024Human Rights Independent UN experts have expressed concern over the role airlines and aviation authorities could have in the unlawful removal of asylum seekers from the United Kingdom to Rwanda under an agreement between the two governments and the proposed “Safety of Rwanda” bill. Two years ago, London announced the Migration and Economic Development Partnership (MEDP)...

24 April 2024Migrants and Refugees The International Organization for Migration (IOM) is offering medical care, food, shelter and psychosocial support to 33 migrants who survived a shipwreck off the coast of Djibouti on Monday, as local authorities continue search and rescue operations. The migrants were on a boat carrying at least 77 people from Ras al-Ara off Yemen’s coast which capsized off the coast of Djibouti, near Obock, leaving 24 dead and 20 others missing. Just two weeks...

In a statement released late on Wednesday, the UN Secretary-General António Guterres said he had been deeply distressed to hear of the hundreds of lives lost and many others affected by the deluge in Kenya as well as Burundi, Somalia, Tanzania and other parts of East Africa. He extended his condolences to the governments and people of the countries affected, especially the families of those who have died or been injured in this disaster, said UN Spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric. The UN and...

Torrential rains could worsen with the arrival of Tropical Cyclone Hidaya, the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) warned on Friday. Prepare for impact The tropical cyclone is the first of its kind to develop in eastern Africa and is due to have a “very big impact”, WMO spokesperson Clare Nullis told journalists in Geneva. She said Tanzania was expected to suffer in particular because the ground is already waterlogged and “is about to get hit by even more rainfall” from the storm...

7 May 2024Migrants and Refugees Money sent home by migrants abroad has surpassed foreign direct investment in boosting the gross domestic product (GDP) of developing countries, UN migration agency IOM said in the latest edition of its flagship report, released on Tuesday. World Migration Report 2024 reveals a significant shift in global migration patterns, including a record number of people displaced due to conflict, violence, natural and other disasters. Speaking at the launch in...

At least 1.8 million among them fled across the border into neighbouring, South Sudan, Chad, Central African Republic, Egypt and Ethiopia; as well as Uganda. Thousands more are arriving by the day, agency spokesperson Olga Sarrado told journalists at the regular news briefing in Geneva. The war between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) and its affiliated militias “has shattered people’s lives, filling them with fear and loss,” Ms. Sarrado...

Rokaya needed time to recover after illness forced her to quit as a live-in maid in Malaysia and return home to Indramayu, West Java. However, under pressure from her agent who claimed two million Rupiah for her initial placement, she accepted an offer of work in Erbil, Iraq. There, Ms. Rokaya found herself responsible for taking care of a family’s sprawling compound—working from 6 a.m. until after midnight, seven days per week. As exhaustion worsened the headaches and vision problems that...